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I believe that joint efforts of Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and other countries will give evident results to make “Viking” an additional global logistic chain to deliver goods between the East and the West, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Egidijus Meilūnas said at the international conference on 31 March in Vilnius.We see “Viking” as an excellent opportunity for the Black Sea Region, Caucasus, Central and East Asia countries to export their goods to Europe,” Foreign Vice-Minister said at the conference “Project “VIKING”. Intermodal Solutions, Development and Prospects”.

He also noted that the current foreign policy of Lithuania was directed at enhancing the competitiveness of the Lithuanian transport system capable to meet the major new challenges of globalization.

“The process of globalization and expansion of international trade creates new demands for transport services, such as time-saving and flexibility, and regional cooperation is becoming more relevant.  The global trends contribute to a considerable growth of containerization and the use of multimodal transport. Being in the crossroads of regions, we have to watch global processes carefully and to use the given opportunities to become a gateway between Western Europe and Scandinavia from one side and South Caucasus and Central Asia from another,” Vice-Minister E.Meilūnas said.

Therefore, according to the Vice-Minister, Lithuania’s long-term foreign policy vision includes integration of the country’s transport infrastructure into the Trans-European Networks, promotion of Lithuania’s logistics hubs, and implementation of transport infrastructure projects connecting the Baltic and Black Sea regions.

The conference that was organized by the JSC Lithuanian Railways focuses on the implementation of the container train “Viking” project and development prospects, deals with the issues related to cargo transportation between the East and the West.

More than 100 participants are attending the conference, among them there are the biggest freight carriers, forwarders, logistics companies and associations from Belarus, Finland, Lithuania, Russia, Syria, Turkey, and Ukraine, as well as shippers, manufacturers, and representatives from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MFA’s and Ministries of Communications from other countries.

“Viking” is a high-speed container train, which goes from Ukraine (Odessa/Ilyichevsk) to Lithuania (Klaipėda seaport) and back, connecting the Baltic and Black Sea regions. The train was launched in February 2003. The advantages of this train are: time-saving (the train starts in Klaipėda and reached Odessa in 56 hours), facilitated customs procedures and the price (transport tariffs are one third or even 50 percent less than the ones for transporting goods by car transport). The train crosses the EU’s external border in 30 minutes and, in this regard, the project has no analogues in the EU.